Green Engineering - knowledge-based delivery of sustainable products in plants: Multigene metabolic engineering for high value lipids

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The utility of vegetable oils lies in their chemical properties which are defined by the species of fatty acid (FA) that are esterified to each of the three positions on the glycerol backbone of the triacylglycerol (TAG) molecules that typically comprise 98% of oil in seeds. In the plant kingdom there are >400 FA species varying in carbon chain length and in the arrangement of various bonds and functional groups. Even greater diversity arises from different combinations and permutations of FA on the glycerol backbone which influence key functional properties such as digestibility. Some speciality oils have higher commercial value but are either not made by plants or are only produced by those with poor agronomic performance. A major goal of WP2 therefore is to develop crops producing higher yields of oils with new more desirable FA compositions targeting products with the potential to sustainably improve health and nutrition. Our preferred chassis for engineering plant lipid metabolism is the oilseed crop Camelina. Camelina benefits from high levels of omega-3 FAs in seeds and in previous work (TPM and Designing Seeds ISPGs) we engineered Camelina to accumulate commercially viable levels of non-native omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated FAs (LC-PUFAs) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in seed oil mimicking “fish oil”. These plants proved to be an effective dietary source for aquaculture and are in process of commercialisation. Arising from this successful long-term project we have a very large collection of different constructs and transgenic events in Camelina that provide a powerful resource with which to understand the consequences of complex multigene metabolic engineering and to inform smarter strategies to deliver new products. We have also developed expertise in engineering approaches to specify the positioning of specific FAs in TAG.

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